PRELUDE TO OPERATION BLUESTAR-SIKH POLITICS SINCE INDEPENDENCE

 Till 1984, the Hindus and Sikhs lived in complete amity and clashes between the two communities are unheard of.

Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak 500 years ago. It amalgamates the concepts from Hinduism as well as Islam. He rejected the caste system and called God as Nirankar or formless and condemned idol worship. He instituted “Guru ka Langar” where people from all castes ate to break the barrier of caste.

Hindus always considered Sikhs as a part and parcel of Hinduism. The Hari Mandir was built in the middle of the sarovar by the 5^th guru, Guru Arjun. He got Guru Nanaks teachings compiled into the “Adi Granth” which is today known as “Guru Granth Sahib.”

Mughal Emperor Jehangir suspected Guru Arjun in league with his rebellious son Shah Jahan and got him imprisoned and tortured to death at Lahore. Very unwisely the Indian Army in Operation Blue Star stormed the Golden temple during the death anniversary of Guru Arjun when a high number of pilgrims would be present in the temple.

Guru Ajun’s son and successor Guru Hargobind constructed the Akhal Takht, a symbol of the temporal power of Sikhism. The 10^th Guru Gobind Singh brought in the 5 K’s and forbade them to cut their heir.

One of the central tenets of Sikhism is that religion and politics are indivisible.

When Ahmed Shah Abdali came to India he blew up the Golden Temple and filled the pool with carcasses of slaughtered cattle. The Akhal Takht was raged to the ground. The Sikhs rebuilt their shrines and maintained them. Thereafter till 1984 no army has set foot in the Golden temple.

Later the Sikhs became powerful under Ranjit Singh who was treated with great respect by the English. Ranjit Singh became the Maharaja of Punjab when he was just 21. He was illiterate and was blind in one eye. He did not follow the Sikh tenet that one should not drink. He was fond of Scotch Whiskey and consumed it. He had 22 wives and many of them were Muslim and Hindu. It was he who turned the temple into a Golden Temple.

Within 10 years of the death of Ranjit Singh the British have defeated the Sikhs annexed the Punjab.

The biggest foe of Sikhism was Swami Dayananda Saraswathi who founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. He said that both Punjabi Muslims and Sikhs have been converted from Hinduism and therefore it is perfectly legitimate to convert them back to Hinduism. The Arya Samaj had become a big converting force in Punjab.

Before the birth of Arya Samaj in 1873 a group of rich landed and orthodox Sikhs founded the movement of “Singh Sabhas”. The aim of these Sabhas is to educate the Sikhs about their religion and to free them from Hindu practices. They declared war on the Arya Samaj when it was launched and tried to convert Hindus.

The Singh Sabha movement grew fast and set up Khalsa Schools where the study of “Guru Granth Sahib” and the Gurmukhi script devised by Guru Angad became compulsory.

After the Jalianwalabag massacre General Dyer was hailed as a hero by the priests of Akhal Takht and the Golden Temple which shocked the people of Punjab. That of course happened because British puppets were made as priests. This support of Dyer led to the agitation of reform of Sikh places of worship which were till then mostly controlled by Hindu Mahants. The agitation continued for 5 years up till 1925 and produced the 2 institutions that dominate Punjab politics today; The SGPC and the Akali Dal. The SGPC controls all the Gurdwaras in Punjab.

Although they were solidly with the Congress and Gandhi in Freedom struggle, they were thrown into a dilemma by the 2^nd world war. Many of the Sikhs were in the armed forces working for the British, so how can they cooperate with the non cooperation movement? So many Sikhs did not support it.

One of those non supporters was Master Tara Singh. He dominated Sikh politics since the 1920’s. He was born a Hindu but got converted to Sikhism at school. After doing his BA he became a schoolmaster. He became active in Akali Dal and left his job, but the tile Master stayed with him. He broke with the Congress and sided with the British in the war.

Sikh soldiers played a major role in the Indian national Army. As per Captain Mohan Sigh, a third of the army or about 20,000 are Sikhs.

With partition Punjab was split into 2 with 40% of Sikhs in Pakistan and 60% of the Sikhs in India. Later with rioting all the Sikhs have migrated to India. So finally the Sikhs had a state where they are a majority.

The Sikhs are very hard working and with their work and also aided by the Green Revolution concept as per which high yielding seeds, improved fertilizers and irrigation techniques were concentrated in areas where they are likely to yield good results. Those areas are Punjab, Haryana and Western UP. With that Punjab became prosperous and a leading state in India.

For the Akali Dal the modernity that came in with prosperity is seen as a threat to their faith. The modernity made the orthodox fearful.

Right since independence Master Tara Singh decided that the only way to prevent modernism and Hinduism from drowning Sikhism is to demand official recognition as a separate community. Even Nehru the staunchest secularist was called as a communal Hindu by some of the Akalis.

Hindu and Sikh refugees from West Punjab had to fight to re establish themselves and that led to communal tensions. Militant Hinduism took political shape when the Bharatiya Jana Sangh was formed in 1951. It flourished in the Punjab due to Arya Samaj’s influence.

In 1953 the states reorganization commission was set up b Nehru to create states on linguistic basis (after the agitation in AP). The commission rejected the demand for separate Punjabi speaking state saying that Punjabi is not different from Hindi.

Master Tara Singh called this as a decree of annihilation of the Sikhs and launched an agitation for a Punjabi Subha. The police took action on Akali and SGPC members in 1955. Nehru maintained that the demand was communal and did not budge an inch.

In 1960 Master Tara Singh launched another agitation and went on a fast unto death on August 15. However, after fasting 43 days he just quit. He was totally discredited and was sidelined after that and his political career was over.

After that the Sikh leadership passed to Sant Fateh Singh who was a Jat and stayed with the Jats. Nehru remained opposed to a Punjabi state till his death, but Indira Gandhi conceded it in 1966.

Punjab was then split into Hindi speaking Haryana and Punjabi speaking Punjab, while the Himalayan foothills became Himachal Pradesh. The split Punjab had a Sikh population of 56% which is a bare majority hence it became difficult for the Akalis to come to power. They tried an alliance with Jana Sangh on a couple of occasions but it did not work. So the Sikhs went back to agitational politics to retain their base.

Nehru felt Amritsar is too near to the Pak border to be a capital of Punjab so with the help of the French architect Le Corbusier he got Chandigarh built. When Punjab was split Chandigarh was treated as a separate union territory and remained the capital of both Punjab and Hrayana.

In 1970 Indira Gandhi transferred Chandigarh to Punjab with a proviso that the two prosperous tehsils of Punjab; Abohar and Fazilka would go to Haryana. But the latter part of the accord accord was not practical and stands unimplemented to this day.

WORM HOLES-SHORTCUTS IN THE UNIVERSE.

 Wormholes were first theorized by an Austrian Physicist in 1916 by using Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. He described a white hole which is a theoretical reversal of the black hole and said that entrances to Black and White Holes would be connected by a space time conduit.

In 1935 Einstein along with another scientist named Rosen elaborated on the idea and proposed the existence of bridges through space time. These bridges connect two different points in space time, theoretically creating a shortcut in the Universe that could reduce travel time and distance by an enormous amount. These shortcuts are known as Wormholes.

Lot of speculation has gone into travel through Wormholes. However, so far except for theoretical proof we have not discovered any such Wormhole. In fact as per theory the Wormholes collapse very quickly and therefore travel through them is impossible. Moreover, theoretical Wormholes are microscopic in size, of the order of 10^-33 centimetres, so there is no question of humans traveling through them. But it may be possible that with the expanding Universe they may have grown bigger in size, but how big we can again only speculate.

However, as long as we do not find the existence of a Wormhole in the Universe, all this becomes pure speculation and romantic imagination without any basis. The scientific equations simply give out the existence of Wormholes on a microscopic scale, but those too collapse very quickly. More than this the theory does not talk of the possibility of humans traveling through Wormholes, which in turn is impossible with the theoretical set of properties given to Wormholes. The physics in the Wormholes is utterly different from our own, and it is postulated that they contain exotic types of matter.

Therefore, so far this remains a fanciful theory and we have not found any Wormholes, let alone travel through them. These wormholes, if they do exist may be spotted by the way their gravity affects other bodies located near to them.

QUASARS (QUASI STELLAR RADIO SOURCES)-BRIGHTEST OBJECTS IN THE UNIVERSE.

Quasars are the brightest objects known to us in the Universe. A single Quasar outshines an entire galaxy like the Milky Way by 10 to 100,000 times.

We consider our Sun as the most powerful, but the Sun is an average star in the Milky Way Galaxy. Milky Way consists of 100,000 crore stars like the sun, and the collective energy emitted by it is enormous. How a single Quasar out shines such enormous collection of stars is puzzling. 

Astronomers postulate that to emit such massive amounts of energy, all the Quasars must have super massive black holes in their center. The black holes at the center of Qasars have millions or even billion times our Suns mass. 

We know how black holes come into being, but no one knows how these super massive black holes in the center of the Quasars came about, and research on that is on. These black holes have to be much more massive than any of the ordinary black holes known to us, and astronomers and scientists do not have any theoretical explanation as to how they formed.  

If the brightest Quasar visible from earth,  3c273 is brought to a distance of some 30 light years away from the earth, then it would shine as bright as the Sun.  That Quasar is 4 trillion (4 lac crore) times as luminous as our Sun. A study had found evidence of Molecular Oxygen in this Quasar and it is for the first time that Oxygen had been found outside the Milky Way.

There are only about 2000 Quasars known to us of which the nearest to us is Markarian 231  which is about 600 million light years away. The farthest Quasar known to us is ULAS J1120 which is about 12.9 billion light years away. That means we are seeing the Quasar as it was 12.9 billion years ago very near to the time of Big Bang which happened 13.8 billion years ago.

At the rate Quasars shine and use up all the surrounding matter and convert into energy, they would have consumed all the matter and would be dead a long time ago. Therefore, it is likely that the Universe is currently devoid of any Quasar.

 

ANTIMATTER AND UNIVERSE

All of us who read science know that ordinary matter consists of atoms. The atoms in turn consist of the positively charged protons and the neutral Neutrons in the nucleus. The negatively charged electrons orbit the nucleus.

In antimatter, the charges are reversed. The orbiting electrons would have a positive charge and the protons in the nucleus have a negative charge. The electrons of antimatter are known as Positrons, Protons as Antiprotons, and Neutrons as Antineutrons. This too is known to most of the science students. 

Antimatter was first predicted by the English physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. Dirac said that every particle in the universe had a mirror image. The American physicist Carl Anderson discovered the Positron in 1932 and Dirac received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933 while Anderson got it in 1936.

When particles of matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate each other and produce energy. The laws of physics for particles and antiparticles are the same.

At the time of Big Bang, equal amounts of matter and antimatter would have been present, but today there is very less antimatter left in the Universe. What can be the reason for that is difficult to understand. Perhaps an explanation can be that originally there is much more matter than antimatter like today and so most of the antimatter got annihilated by coming into contact with ordinary matter. That is only a probability, but the scientists see no reason why that should be so. The presence of very little  antimatter in the Universe is a mystery to scientists.   

Did you know that a Banana produces a particle of antimatter every 75 minutes? Bananas contain a small amount of Potassium-40, an isotope of Potassium. When Potassium 40 decays, occasionally it spits out a positron. Our bodies also contain Potassium 40, so we also emit positrons. However these particles are very short lived and get annihilated.

Very less amount of antimatter has been artificially created by humans. That is only about some nanograms (nanogram is one billionth of a gram).

Just a small amount of antimatter can produce a huge amount of power (because it completely annihilates itself when it comes into contact with matter)  making it usable as fuel for space vehicles on lomg distance travel. Of course the challenge is to make that much antimatter, which is not yet possible for us. As mentioned above, humans have thus far produced only a few nanograms of antimatter.

ANTIMATTER IN MEDICINE:

PET(Positron Emission Tomography) uses positrons to produce high resolution images of the body. Positron emitting radioactive isotopes are attached to substances like Glucose. These are injected into the bloodstream where they release positrons that meet electrons in the body and annihilate. That produces gamma rays that are used to construct the images.

Scientists at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)  have studied antimatter as a potential candidate for cancer therapy. They discovered that they can target tumors with beams of particles that would release their energy only after passing through the healthy tissue. This technique was successful on a Hamster (a rodent like the rat but much smaller), but they have not yet tried it on humans.

JAINISM

 The Jains believe in the 24 Tirthankaras or founders of the faith. The first Tirthankara was Rishabhadeva and the final one is Mahavira. Along with Mahavira, the 23^rd Tirthankara Parsvanatha is also a historical personality while the others are merely legends for us. Parsvanatha lived n the 8^th-9^th century BC. Mahavira gave a new orientation to the faith.

The Jainas believe in “Anekantavada” as per which matter and spirit are separate independent realities. There are innumerable atoms and innumerable independent souls which are separately and independently real. Each atom and each soul possesses innumerable aspects of its own. Every object possesses innumerable positive and negative characters. It is not possible for ordinary people to know all the qualities of a thing.

Human knowledge is essentially relative and limited and so are our judgments. This is called “Syadvada”, while ‘Anekantavada” says reality has innumerable characters.

SYADVADA: Absolute affirmation and absolute negation both are wrong. All judgments are conditional. Almost all philosophical, ideological and and religious differences and disputes are mainly due to mistaking a partial truth for the whole. Our judgments represent different aspects of the many sided reality and can claim only partial truth. This view makes Jainism broad minded and tolerant.

In Jainism, the whole Universe is brought within 2 categories ‘Jiva” the conscious spirit and “Ajiva” the unconscious non spirit. Ajiva includes not only matter, but also space, motion, rest and time.

JIVAS: The Jivas of Jainism are qualitatively alike and only quantitatively different and the whole universe is literally filled with them.

The Jivas are divided into those that are liberated (Mukta) and those that are bound (Baddha). The bound souls are divided into mobile and immobile. The mobile souls are again divided into those who have 2, 3, 4 & 5 senses.

Every soul from the lowest to the highest possesses consciousness. The degree of consciousness varies according to the obstacles of Karma. The lowest souls which inhabit material atoms appear to be lifeless and unconscious, but both life and consciousness are present in them although in a dormant form.

The purest consciousness is found in the emancipated souls where there is no shred of Karma. The badha soul is bound by matter. Freedom from matter means omniscience and emancipation.

BONGADE & LIBERATION: Karma is the link which unites the soul to the body. Ignorance of truth and passion attract the flow of karmic matter towards the soul. In bondage the karmic matter unites with the soul. By the practice of right faith, knowledge and conduct the influx of fresh karma is stopped. Then, the already existing Karma is to be exhausted. When this happens finally the partnership between soul and matter is dissolved. This state is called Moksha or liberation.

SECTS: Jainism is divided into “Shvetamabara” or white clad and “Digambara” or nude. The Digambaras are more puritanical and the Shvetamabaras more accommodating. However, only the highest monks go around white clad or nude but not laymen and ordinary monks.

The Digambaras maintain that the perfect saint (Kevali) needs no food and that women cannot attain liberation (unless they are reborn as men in the next birth). They also maintain that the original canon of Mahaviras teachings is lost. The Shvetamabaras reject these views. 

WATER POLLUTION.

 

Various contaminants pollute the water on earth. Water pollution like air pollution is of 2 types, natural and manmade.

In natural sources that pollute, Oil & Natural Gas can leak into the oceans and lakes from oil sources. These are called “Petroleum seeps”.  The world’s largest petroleum seep is the “Coal Oil Seep” off the coast of California.

Human activity contributes a lot to water pollution. Chemicals & oils are sometimes dumped by factories or may seep into waterways and this is known as run off. This creates a toxic environment for aquatic life. Runoff creates conditions for Cyanobacteria to breed and create what is known as the “Harmful Algal Bloom” (HAB). These blooms prevent aquatic life like plants and fish in the ocean, Rivers & Waterways.

Mining and drilling contributes to water pollution. AMD or “Acid Mine Drainage” is a major contributor to pollution of rivers and lakes near coal mines. Acid is used in coal mines to remove coal from the surrounding rocks. The acid leaks into the rivers or streams, where it reacts with rock and sand and releases sulphur creating a water body rich in sulphuric acid. This is toxic to all aquatic organisms, and makes the water non potable to humans and animals.

Oil spills are a major source of water pollution. In 2010 the “Deepwater Oil Rig” exploded in the gulf of Mexico, causing oil to gush from the ocean floor. In a few months hundreds of millions of gallons of oil mixed with the Mexican gulf waters. The spill created an oil slick on the surface with an area of 24000 Sq. Km. It affected the US states of Louisiana and Mississippi killing many plants and aquatic organisms.

Buried chemical wastes can also pollute water supplies. If not disposed of properly, the buried nuclear waste can cause a terrible hazard to organisms.

Sewage is big source of water pollution. If the sewage is untreated and is channelized either into a river or a sea, it causes huge damage and makes rivers polluted so that lesser number of fish can live  in them and also the water becomes non potable.

Another major source of water pollution is fertilizer used in agriculture. Fertlizer contains Nitrogen and Phosphorous and rainwater feeds this into rivers and lakes. These 2 chemicals cause Cyanobacteria to form HAB’s.

Rain washes other pollutants into lakes and rivers. It also washes pesticides off the plants into lakes and streams and they can also seep into groundwater.

Heat also pollutes water. Our thermal power plants use water as a coolant. After getting heated up the water is returned to the river. In some species the excess heat would not let the eggs of creatures to hatch and thereby restricts the growth of the species.

Another type of water pollution is garbage. Floating garbage makes the river difficult to fish in and also makes the aquatic life mistake things like plastic bags to be food and makes them consume it. Plastic bags and twine can kill many creatures both in the rivers and the seas as well as lakes. The fish that remain have high chemical toxic levels in them and if people eat them they would feel the effects.

Garbage also fouls the oceans. Many plastic bottles and other plastic trash are thrown into the sea from boats. The ocean currents carry plastics to certain places in the sea from where it cannot escape. The largest of these areas was already mentioned by me in my earlier write up on pollution. It is known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. Shockingly this garbage patch has an area of 1.60 million square kilometres which is stunning. That is exactly 10 times the area of Andhra Pradesh. It is a threat to fish and seabirds which mistake the plastic for food. You can have a look at the photograph of a part of the patch, and shockingly this is right in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

PLASTIC WASTE.

 I have data of plastic waste for 2018. As per that since the early 1950’s more than 830 crore tons of plastic has been produced. Out of that 60% has ended up as plastic waste, and that is a massive 500 crore tons. This much waste is available in the environment to pollute it.

More than 99% are derived from Oil, Natural gas and Coal all of which are non renewable. If the current trend of plastic consumption continues then by the year 2050 20% of the consumption of those 3 resources would be used only for producing plastics.

There are too many single use plastic items everywhere. These are:

1.     PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) water bottles, dispensing containers & biscuit trays.

2.     HDPE ( High Density Polyethylene) shampoo bottles, freezer bags, ice cream containers.

3.     LDPE ( Low Density Polyethylene) bags, trays, containers, food packaging film.

4.     PP (Polypropylene) potato chip bags, microwave dishes, ice cream tubs, bottle caps.

5.     PS (Polystyrene) Cutlery, plates, cups.

6.     EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) protective packaging, hot drink cups. 

Only 9% of all the plastic waste produced since inception has been recycled and 12% has been incinerated but the rest 79% has accumulated in the environment.

Cigarette butts whose filters contain tiny plastic fibers were the most common plastic waste found in the environment. Drink bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags, straws and stirrers are the next most common items.

Some 80 lakh tons of plastic waste gets into the sea every year through the rivers.

The durability of plastic also makes them hard to degrade. They do not disappear and only get smaller with time of hundreds of years or more. Finally these small plastic particles are swallowed by animals and fish mistaking them for food. In turn when we eat them, the plastic waste gets into us as well.

Plastic wastes clog drains and make them act as breeding ground for pests. The irony is, at the current trends of plastic consumption, by the year 2050 our oceans would contain more plastic waste tan fish in tonnage.

Surprisingly the highest amount of plastic waste does not come from the USA or the European countries but from Asia. The US and the European countries do excellent plastic waste management and therefore prevent a lot of plastic pollution. 

పద్మనాయక మరియు రెడ్ల మధ్య వైరం పెదకోమటి వేమారెడ్డి.రాజ్యకాలం 1402 సంవత్సరం నుండి 1420 సంవత్సరం వరకు.

 పెదకోమటి వేమారెడ్డి, కుమారగిరి రెడ్డి పెదనాన్న అయిన మాచా రెడ్డి  రెడ్డి పుత్రుడు. కుమారగిరి రెడ్డి చివరి సమయంలో రెడ్డి రాజ్యం నలువైపులా ముట్టడించబడి కల్లోలం గా ఉండటం చూసి పెదకోమటి రాజ్యాన్ని స్వాధీనం చేసుకున్నాడు. పద్మనాయకులు అయిన వెలుగోటి రాయప నాయక, గజరావు తిప్పనాయక ఇద్దరు కూడా అంతర్యుద్ధం లో పెదకోమటివేమ రెడ్డి తరఫున పోరాడి ఆయన సింహాసనానికి రావటానికి చాలా సాయపడ్డారు. ఇందులో వెలుగోటి రాయపనాయకుడు రెడ్డి రాజ్యానికి సామంతుడిగా ఉంటూ గుంటూరు చుట్టు పక్కల ప్రదేశాలను పాలించాడు, ఈయన సామంతుడు గజరావు తిప్పన. 

గజరావు తిప్పన పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి తరఫున పోరాడుతూ కుమారగిరి రెడ్డి విధేయుడు, బావ అయిన కాటయవేమారెడ్డి ని ఏలూరు దగ్గర ఉన్న గుండుగొలను దగ్గర ఓడించాడు. కుమారగిరి  రెడ్డి కి తనయుడు లేకపోవటం వలన ఆయన తరువాత కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి రాజ్యానికి వచ్చేవాడు. కానీ మరి కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి హరిహర రాయలు II  అల్లుడు. అందుచేత హరిహరరాయలు విజయనగర సైన్యాలను పెదకోమటివేమా రెడ్డి మీదికి నడిపాడు. విజయనగర సైన్యాధిపతి అయిన చావుండప అమాత్యుడు కొండవీటివరకు రెడ్డి సామ్రాజ్యంలోనికి చొచ్చుకునిపోయాడు.   అప్పుడు మరల పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి సైన్యాధిపతి అయిన గజరావు తిప్పన కొండవీటి పొలిమేరలలో విజయనగర సైన్యాలతో తలపడి వారిని ఓడించాడు. దాని తరువాత పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి కొండవీటి సింహాసనం అధిష్టించాడు.

పెదకోమటి వేమారెడ్డి తమ్ముడి పేరు కూడా మాచా రెడ్డి నే. పెదకోమటి వేమారెడ్డి ఆయనకు కృష్ణా నదికి ఉత్తరాన ఉన్న భూభాగాన్ని ఇచ్చాడు. మాచా రెడ్డి కృష్ణా జిల్లాలోని కొండపల్లి కోటను పటిష్టం చేసి రాజధానిగా చేసుకున్నాడు.  

రెడ్డి రాజ్యంలో అయిన ఈ అంతర్యుద్ధంలో కుమారగిరి ఓడిపోయి, కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి తో సహా రాజమహేంద్రవరం  చేరుకున్నాడు. పెదకోమటి రాజ్యం తీసుకున్న కొన్ని సంవత్సరాల కాలం తరువాత కుమారగిరి మరణించాడు.

పెదకోమటి వేమా రెడ్డి సింహాసనం మీద నిలదొక్కుకునే సమయానికి విజయనగం సామ్రాజ్యంలో హరిహరాయలు II  మరణించాడు (1404  సంవత్సరం) .  సింహాసనానికి ఆయన పుత్రులైన దేవరాయలు I , విరుపాక్షరాయలు II  మరియు బుక్కరాయలు II  పోటీ పడ్డారు. అంతర్యుద్ధంవలన విజయనగర రాజ్యం కల్లోలం అయ్యింది. అది అదనుగా చూసుకుని పెదకోమటి వేమా రెడ్డి సైన్యాలు ఇదివరకు కొండవీటి నుండి ఆక్రమించిన ప్రాంతంలో ఉన్న విజయనగర సైన్యాన్ని ఓడించి ఆ ప్రాంతాన్ని తిరిగి స్వాధీనం చేసుకున్నారు.

కుమారిఁగిరి రెడ్డి మరణించినా కూడా పెదకోమటివేమా రెడ్డి మరియు కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి మధ్య సంబంధాలు చెడిపోయాయి. కాటయవేమారెడ్డి, పెదకోమటివేమా రెడ్డి అధికారాన్ని ధిక్కరించి రాజమహేంద్రవరాన్ని స్వతంత్రంగా పాలించడం మొదలుపెట్టాడు. పైగా ఇప్పుడు విజయనగర రాజులూ ఆయన బావమరుదులు కదా. ఇక అప్పటినుండి కొండవీడు, రాజమహేంద్రవరం రాజ్యాలు వైరం కొనసాగించాయి. ఈ రెడ్డి రాజ్యాల మధ్య వైరం కొండవీటి సామ్రాజ్యాన్ని బలహీనం చేసింది. అలాగే రాజమహేంద్రవరం రాజ్యం కూడా బలహీనపడింది.

ఈ రాజమహేంద్రవర రాజ్య బలహీనత ను సొమ్ము చేసుకున్నవాడు మనం ఇదివరకు చెప్పుకున్న అన్నదేవ చోడుడు. ఇంతకు ముందు ఈయనకు దేవరకొండ రాజ్యం లో పెదవేదగిరి నాయకుడు ఆశ్రయం ఇచ్చాడు. ఈయన ఒకప్పుడు పాలించిన సామంత రాజ్యం రాజమహేంద్రవర రెడ్డి రాజ్యంలో భాగమే. అన్నదెవ చోడుడు దేవరకొండ సాయంతో తాను కోల్పోయిన రాజ్యాన్ని తిరిగి తీసుకోవడానికి పోరాడాడు. బహుశా దానిలో పెదకోమటి వేమా రెడ్డి కూడా అతనికి సాయపడ్డాడు.  

1408  సంవత్సరంలో తన పోలవరం శాసనం ప్రకారం అన్నదేవ చోడుడు తన రాజ్యాన్ని స్వతంత్రంగా ఏలుతున్నాడు. అంటే అప్పటికే ఆయన రాజమహేంద్రవర రెడ్డి రాజ్యాన్ని చీల్చాడు.

అప్పుడు రాజమహేంద్రవర రెడ్డి రాజ్యం, ఒకవైపు కొండవీడు, రెండవ వైపు అన్నదేవ చోడుని రాజ్యం పక్కన ఉండి ప్రమాదంలో పడింది. కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి అది చూసి విజయనగర రాజ్యానికి వెళ్లి అప్పటికి అంతర్యుద్ధంలో గెలిచి రాజు అయిన దేవరాయ I  ను కలిసాడు. అయన కాటయవేమునికి బావమరిది కదా మరి.

దేవరాయ I , తన సైన్యాన్ని తీసుకుని 1412  సంవత్సరంలో కొండవీడు రాజ్యాన్ని ముట్టడించాడు. ఆయన కొండవీటి రాజ్యంలోకి వచ్చి బాపట్ల దగ్గర ఉన్న మోటుపల్లి రేవును జయించాడు కానీ తరువాత పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి దాన్ని తిరిగి స్వాధీనం చేసుకున్నాడు. అందుచేత దేవరాయ I  కు ఈ దండయాత్రలో ఒరిగింది ఏమి లేదు. కాకపోతే రాజమహేంద్రవర రాజ్యానికి ఒత్తిడి తగ్గింది అంతే.

తరువాత కాలంలో పెదకోమటివేముడు తిరిగి రాజమహేంద్రవర రాజ్యాన్ని ముట్టడించాడు. ఈ ముట్టడిలో గజరావు తిప్పన చేతిలో కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి మరణించాడు. ఎందుకంటే గజరావు తిప్పనికి " కాటయ వేముని తలగొండ గండ అనే బిరుదం లభించింది. 1414  సంవత్సరం తరువాత కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి శాసనాలు కనిపించడం లేదు ఆంటే అప్పటికి ఆయన మరణించి ఉండాలి.

కాటయ వేమారెడ్డి మరణం తరువాత కుమారగిరి రెడ్డి II  రాజమహేంద్రవర సింహాసనం అధిష్టించాడు. ఈయన మరణం తరువాతనే అన్నదేవ చోడుడు పెదకోమటి వేమారెడ్డి సాయంతో రాజమహేంద్రవర రాజ్యాన్ని స్వాధీనం చేసుకున్నాడు. కానీ అన్నదేవ చోడుడు రాజమహేంద్రవర రాజ్యాన్ని ఎక్కువ కాలం పాటు పాలించలేకపోయాడు. ఆయనను తరువాత అల్లాడ రెడ్డి ఓడించి కాటయవేమా రెడ్డి పుత్రిక ఐన అనితల్లి ని రాణిగా చేసి ఆమె తరఫున తాను రాజ్యాన్ని పాలించాడు. అన్నదేవ చోడుడు అల్లాడ రెడ్డి చేతిలో మరణించాడు.

కానీ అప్పటికి కూడా పెదకోమటి వేమా రెడ్డి కన్ను రాజమహేంద్రవర రాజ్యం మీద నుండి పోలేదు. తరువాత అయన బహమనీ సుల్తానులతో ఒప్పందం చేసుకుని వారి సాయంతో రాజమహేంద్రవరం రాజ్యాన్ని ముట్టడించాడు. బహమనీ సుల్తానులు పెదకోమటివేమ రెడ్డి తో ఒడంబడికి చేసుకొనడం  రాచకొండ పద్మనాయకులకు నచ్చకపోయినా వారు ఏమీ చేయలేకపోయారు. ఈ బహమనీ, కొండవీడు ల మధ్య ఒప్పందం గురించి వెలుగోటివారి వంశావళి లో కూడా చెప్పబడింది. ఈ బహమనీ సుల్తాన్, పెదకోమటి వేమా రెడ్డి సైన్యాలను అల్లాడ రెడ్డి సమర్ధవంతంగా ఎదుర్కొని ఓడించాడు.

పెదకోమటి వేముడి మరియు బహమనీ సుల్తానుల సైన్యాలు అల్లాడ రెడ్డి తో యుద్ధం చేస్తున్న సమయంలో విజయనగర రాజు ఐన దేవరాయ I తన సైన్యాన్ని రెండు భాగాలుగా విడతీసి ఒక భాగాన్ని బహమనీ రాజ్యం మీదకు, రెండోదాన్ని కొండవీటి మీదకు పంపాడు.  అప్పటికే అల్లాడరెడ్డి చేతిలో పరాజయం చెందిన బహమనీ సైన్యాలు విజయనగర ముట్టడి విని కంగారుపడి వెంటనే వెనక్కు వచ్చి  "పానగల్" దుర్గాన్ని స్థావరంగా చేసుకున్న విజయనగర సేనలను ముట్టడించాయి. పానగల్ దుర్గాన్ని 2 సంవత్సరాల కాలం ముట్టడించినా కూడా అది బహమనీ  సైన్యాలకు వశం కాలేదు. ఇందులో పెదకోమటై వేమా రెడ్డి కొండపల్లి రాజధానిగా పాలిస్తున్న తన తమ్ముడైన మాచా రెడ్డి ని బహమనీ సైన్యాలకు సాయంగా పంపాడు.

అప్పుడు దేవరాయ I  రాచకొండ రాజ్యంతో మంతనాలు చేసి వారిని తన వైపు తిప్పుకున్నాడు. వారికీ ముందే బహమనీ కొండవీటి రాజ్యంతో ఒప్పందం చేసుకోవడం ఇష్టం లేకపోవటం వలన ఈ పని సులభం అయ్యింది. యుద్ధం జరుగుతుండగా అప్పటికి బహమనీ ల సామంతులు ఐన రేచెర్ల రాజ్య సైన్యం యుద్ధంనుండి వెనక్కు వచ్చి విజయనగర సైన్యాలతో కలిసింది. దానివలన బహమనీ సైన్యాలు ఘోరంగా ఓడిపోయాయి.

పెదకోమటి వేమారెడ్డి తన చివరి రోజులు రాచకొండ, దేవరకొండ రాజ్యాలతో యుద్ధం చేస్తూ గడిపాడు. పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి, మాచా రెడ్డి ఒక వైపు, దేవరకొండ నుండి కుమారమాదా నాయకుని పుత్రులైన  కుమారవేదగిరి నాయక మరియు లింగమనాయక ఒక వైపు.  

మాచా రెడ్డి ని కుమారవేదగిరి సంహరించి అయన రూపంతో ఉమ్మి వేసే పాత్రను చేయించుకున్నాడు. పెదకోమటివేమా రెడ్డి తిరిగి కుమారవేదగిరిని ఓడించి సంహరించి అయన చేసిన పనికి ప్రతీకారంగా అయన రూపంలో ఉమ్మి వేసే పాత్రను చేయించుకున్నాడు.

అప్పటికి లింగమనాయకునికి కేవలం 12  సంవత్సరాలు మాత్రమే. ఆయన పెద్ద సైన్యాన్ని సమకూర్చుకుని పెదకోమటివేముని ముట్టడించి ఓడించి అయన రూపంతో తిరిగి ఉమ్మి వేసే పాత్ర చేయించుకున్నాడు. లింగమనెడు పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి సింహాలాంఛనాన్ని, “నందికంట పోతరాజు కటారి” అనే అయన ఖడ్గాన్ని దేవరకొండకు తీసుకుపోయాడు. దానితోపాటు పెదకోమటివేముడుని కూడా బందీగా తీసుకుని వెళ్ళాడు. కానీ తరువాత కాలంలో పెదకోమటివేముని వదిలిపెట్టాడు. ఆలా ఎందుకు చేసాడో దానికి కారణాలు తెలియవు. తరువాత లింగమనేడు మరియు సింగయ అన్న కలసి పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి ని సంహరించారు. ఇది 1420   సంవత్సరంలో జరిగింది.

కుమారగిరిరెడ్డి కొండవీటి రెడ్డి రాజ్యాన్ని రెండుగా విడతీసి అది క్షీణించడానికి కారణం అయ్యాడు. అలాగే పెదకోమటివేముడు కూడా కృష్ణా నదికి ఉత్తరంగా ఉన్న రాజ్యాన్ని మాచా రెడ్డి కి ఇచ్చి తన తరువాత కొండవీటి రాజ్యాన్ని ఇంకా క్షీణించేలా చేసాడు.

పెదకోమటివేమా రెడ్డి వీరుడే కాదు ఒక పెద్ద పండితుడు కూడా. అయన సంస్కృతంలో అనేక ప్రభందాలు రచించాడు. ఈయన ముఖ్య సైన్యాధిపతి గజారావు తిప్పన. అంటే పెదకోమటివేమారెడ్డి దేవరకొండ రాజ్యంతో యుద్ధం చేసినపుడు గజారావు తిప్పన కూడా పద్మనాయకులకు విరుద్ధంగా వారితో యుద్ధం చేసి ఉండాలి. మరి ఆయన ఆ యుద్ధాలలో మరణించాడా లేదా అనేది మనకు  తెలియదు.

AIR POLLUTION.

 Air pollution is caused by harmful materials into the environment; it can be natural as in the case of volcanic activity which spews ashes and gases into the environment, or man made.

Polluted air makes people eyes burn and cause difficulty in breathing and can also lead to lung cancer.

Volcanic gases such as sulfur dioxide can kill people in the nearby vicinity and make the soil infertile for years.  In 1986 a toxic cloud developed on account of a volcano in Cameroon. As the cloud moved it killed birds and other organisms that it swept by. It also killed thousands of cattle and 1700 people.

However, the maximum amount of pollution is caused by burning of fossil fuels like Petro products and coal. Vehicles and factories produce gases like Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxide, Sulfur Dioxide and other hydrocarbons. These chemicals react with air to produce smog or haze. Smog makes breathing difficult.

When Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide mix with moisture, they turn into acids and fall as rain. Acid rain can kill all the trees in a forest and makes lakes acidic where fish would find it difficult to live. In Sweden acid rain has created thousands of dead lakes where fish no longer live. Our Taj Mahal too was once gleaming white but acid rain has made it pale.

Greenhouse gases are another source of strong air pollution. Carbon Dioxide and Methane are known as Greenhouse gases. They occur naturally and are essential for life as they absorb sunlight reflected from the earth preventing it from escaping it into space.  They tarp the reflected sunlight and therefore make the earth warm enough for people and animals to live on. This is called the Greenhouse effect.

Humans’ burn fossil fuel and the forest trees increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This has enhanced the greenhouse effect and the global temperatures are warming up. This warming up has caused the ice sheets and glaciers to melt causing the sea level to rise 2 mm per year. With time the coastal regions would therefore be flooded. This warming may also more severe storms and droughts and flooding as well.

Global warming also increases ocean acidification as it absorbs more of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through rain as well as rivers. As ocean acidification increases it becomes more difficult for some life forms to survive there.  

The CFC’s or Chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration damage the Ozone layer in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The Ozone layer absorbs the harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. If that filters through it can pose serious problems for humans as well as animals causing skin cancer, eye disease and other illness. In the 1980’s scientists have noticed that the Ozone layer over Antarctica is thinning. Australia lies at the edge of this hole and later most of the countries have cut down the usage of CFC’s considerably.  

 

MODI-MY PERCEPTION.

There are 17 CM’s to Gujarat from Independence till now. Till Modi became CM in the year 2001, the longest CM tenure is that of Hitendra Desai from 1965 to 1971, a period of 6 years. Only another CM Madhav Solanki has completed 5 years as CM from 1980 to 1985. Modi completed a tenure of about 13 years before he moved over to the Centre. He is PM till now, which means he had been the Head of Governments for 19 years now.

Modi is the only CM (of the bigger states) of India who comes from a poor family. He had no family support and is a self made man. He has worked from the level of a Karyakarta slowly and rose to be the PM of India today.

The criticism against him is that Gujarat was already a developed state when he took over. But then why did the people of Gujarat prefer to have him as a CM for so long. There must be something special in him that made him win the people’s confidence. Even today he is the PM and continues to be so till 2024, and perhaps even beyond if the opposition is not able to put up a good candidate against him.

Modi does not want to accumulate money, and neither does he allow his fellow party men to do so by unfair means of office. He does not favor any family members as all our politicians do. 

What are Modi’s weaknesses? The two weaknesses I see in Modi are

1. Despite not being strong on Hinduism himself, after becoming PM Modi tries to accommodate the RSS, his parent outfit. We may or may not agree with their views but the minorities form a large percentage of our population and so steps should be taken by him to see that they do not feel threatened. They consist of 20% of our population and their views cannot be suppressed. In the earlier times the Congress appeased them and the anger of our people on that issue helped the BJP and made it into a strong party and it rules the country today. The minorities should not be appeased, but on the other side they also should not feel threatened.

2. Modi’s ideas are excellent but their implementation looks flawed, so he has to pick up better advisors. We have seen this during Demonitization.

Other than these factors I don’t see anything bad in Modi.

Some people say his attitude is dictatorial. Maybe so, but I feel that is an asset and not a liability in India. We require a strong centre because even now there are many flaws in our systems and drastic reforms are required. Whenever a reform is taken up some entrenched sections of people would always have to lose despite a large majority getting benefited. In such radical reforms, the sections that would lose are affluent and highly vociferous and so would create a lot of resistance. Such reforms need a PM that goes ahead and does it without bothering about criticism from some sections of people.  

Some people say he favors the Corporate Sector, but his actions do not support that opinion. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code brought in by Modi goes radically against this belief. As per this any Creditor and not just a Banker can appeal to the IBC board, if the company has not paid their dues for liquidation of the company. In liquidation, the assets of the company are sold off and the amount so recovered is apportioned to the creditors. A strict time frame is set for this law. The IBC Board has a time of 14 days to decide whether a company is to be liquidated or not as per the plea. Thereafter the Board is given a time of only 180 days extendable by another 90 days. So hardly about 1 year to finish the process. 

This is a powerful law and some Corporates have already been liquidated on this law. The first big case to be done so is that of Essar Steel in Dec 2019, which was sold to Arcelor Mittal & Nippon Steel for Rs 42000 crores. This has recovered huge NPA of a consortium of banks. So what Modi has, is not love for Corporates, but it is for what they deliver to the country by way of output and employment. If the deviate from the legal path, they would also get punished.